Nation loses veteran Telugu poet-writer
HYDERABAD: Legendary Telugu poet, writer and Jnanpith awardee C Narayana Reddy, popularly known as Cinare, passed away here in the early hours on Monday.
Reddy was an established writer in modern Telugu literature with a multi-faceted personality as a poet, critic, popular lyricist of Telugu film songs, play-wright, and an educationist and orator.
The 85-year-old doyen of Telugu language had to his credit more than 80 publications, which include poems, film songs, lyrical dramas, ballets, essays, travelogues, ghazals –original and in translation – and literary criticism. Reddy's works have been regarded as trend-setters. He had nearly 3,500 film songs to his credit.
"After he developed health complications, he was shifted to a private hospital in Manikonda at around 3 AM where doctors pronounced him dead," sources said. The former Rajya Sabha member is survived by four daughters.
Reddy, born on July 29, 1931, came from a family of agriculturists belonging to Hanumajipeta, a remote village in Karimnagar district.
He had his early education in Urdu medium as his village was situated in the erstwhile Nizam's state. The early education gave him a grip over the language and he developed a taste for its literature.
The poetry of his youth is full of romantic enthusiasm, especially because romantic poetry was the dominant trend in Telugu poetry at that time.
Still, he never lost touch with reality. Some of his early collections of poems like "Jala- patham" (Waterfall,1953), "Narayana Reddy Geyalu" (1955) and "Divvela Muvvalu" (Anklet- Bells of Lights, 1959) amply demonstrate this.
The best representative of the romantic phase of Reddy's poetry is "Karpoora Vasantha Raayalu", which was published in 1957 when he was just 26.
His research work on modern Telugu poetry, assessing the influence of tradition and experiment on it, has been a classic since its publication in 1967. The eminent writer and lyricist was one of the most distinguished Telugu poets of his generation.
"Mantalu Manavudu" (The Flames and the Man, 1970) heralded a new phase in the evolution of Narayana, the poet. He was given the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for this volume of free verse.
His compilation of poems titled "Vishwambhara", published in 1980, was a magnum opus. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1977 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
Recognising his outstanding contribution to Indian literature during the period 1968-82, Reddy was presented with Jnanpith Award for the year 1988. In August 1997, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Reddy was the professor of Telugu in Osmania University. KOCHI: A team of officials from various departments on Monday began investigating navigation records and other details of a merchant vessel, which allegedly hit an Indian fishing boat on Sunday leaving two fishermen dead.
Officials said 15 personnel from departments including the Directorate General of Shipping, coastal police, immigration, customs and mercantile department boarded the Panama-registered cargo ship 'Amber L' to gather evidence.
They were taken in two boats to the ship currently anchored around 7 nautical miles off Kochi coast, officials said. Two Indian fishermen were killed and 11 others injured when the Panama-registered cargo ship allegedly hit their fishing boat early Sunday off the Kochi coast. Of the 14 crew members on-board, 11 were rescued by fishing boats operating in vicinity and two bodies were recovered. BHOPAL: Onions procured at Rs eight per kilogram by the Madhya Pradesh government would be soon sold at Rs two per kilogram to the poor at fair prices shops under the public distribution system (PDS), as per directions issued by the Chief Minister.
"Onions will be sold to the poor at a rate of Rs two per kg through PDS shops. These directives were issued on Monday by Chief Minister while interacting with the district collectors through video-conferencing," a public relations department officer said.
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan also told the district collectors to increase the purchase centres according to requirement and based on the arrival of onion.
He also made it clear that there is no limit to the purchase of onions or other produce.
"Chouhan told collectors to procure the entire onion stock being brought by farmers," the official said.
Earlier, in a bid to mollify agitating farmers, the state government had started procuring the onion at Rs eight per kilogram last week. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had made announcements about onion procurement on June 4 following his meeting with representatives of agitating farmers at Ujjain.
The CM, who went on an indefinite fast to calm frayed tempers of the farmers demanding a loan waiver and remunerative prices for their produce, had also announced a slew of schemes for their benefit. Before ending his 28-hourlong fast on Sunday, Chouhan announced a series of measures for farmers including that purchase of farm produce below the minimum support price (MSP) was a criminal act.